Spring has finally sprung here on the northern prairies. I thought it would never come... me and a bazillion other people that is. Along with its arrival have come all the wonderful spring accouterments. There are little yellow chicks and purple bunnies in the store as well as pastel candies and honking huge chocolate rabbits that I MUST NOT BUY! There are pot holes in the road that a 5 ton truck could get lost in, lakes where no lakes should be and a back yard full of dog droppings. Mysterious items appear in the ditch along side the road that weeks ago were hidden by five feet of snow. Yesterday I passed one super mysterious item. I have no idea what it was. It was long and coiled. It looked like a giant slinky. John would have know what it was. He would have commented on it. He would have said "Why look at that! That is a 1938 farndoogle that fit the top part of a yerdibaggle. Amazing! I wonder how that got there?" It is entirely possible that he would have stopped the car and got out to have a better look at it all the while I would have sat in the car rolling my eyes and wondering if we would ever reach our destination in my lifetime. An odd thing happened to me yesterday. I found myself compelled to stop the car and get out and look. John must be channelling me. I have not noticed this before but leave it to him not to do that except for really really important things. I did leave it in the ditch where it lay. He may have not been able to do that. At the very least he would have dragged it out for a better look. It is good to know that I still maintain some control over myself.
Yesterday was a lovely day. I drove out to my son's place in the country. My grandson was performing in a talent contest along with some of his classmates. It was the type of event that a grandma must attend. The grandson looks for the grandma and checks to see if she is appreciating it all appropriately with the proper amount of applause and big smiles of enjoyment. The program was wonderfully horrible. It was exactly what you would expect from a small community where the talent pool is minuscule. It was a celebration of mediocrity. Only one act was slightly embarrassing and that was because the singer really thought she was pretty darn good. The rest of the performers were under no delusions and adjusted their acts appropriately by becoming excellent comedians. My favourite act by far was the fancy Australian whip cracking unicyclist. Yes...you read that correctly. She rode her unicycle all the awhile cracking her whips. Who would have thunk you would find such a talent out there in the middle of nowhere? John would have loved it. I miss him so much. I miss the sparkle that would have brought to his eyes. Everything was just so much more fun with him.
I am skipping ahead. I am too lazy today to search for what I am supposed to be posting. As nobody really comes here anymore it really does not matter at all. I can do what I like. That is the story of my life now. I am not sure that is a good thing.
I am not sure why but this song has stuck in my brain and when I think of all the songs that I did learn when I was a child this seems to come to the forefront on my mind first. I learned it in school when we were learning cowboy songs.
A Song That Reminds You Of Somebody: When The Saints go Marching In Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye
This song reminds me of my dad. He used to play violin, very badly. He would play this song and we would sing. He had to stop often. He would grin and say that he needed more rosin on the bow, play on, more rosin and then play. My mom would try to get us to quit.
I love this clip. Danny Kaye was supposed to be my future husband back in those days along with:
Tony Curtis
and Kirk Douglas
So... I had not heard that multiple marriage was frowned upon, was called polygamy and was illegal. All I knew was that I wanted all three of these guys. You have to admit, they are pretty cute.
Monday we left Laughlin and headed to Jackpot Nevada. It is right on the Nevada Idaho border. We stayed there Tuesday and today, Wednesday, we made our way to Helena Montana. We were back in winter before we got close to Jackpot. It really did not take long to leave summer behind. Say goodbye to the last of the Palm Trees and the warm sun. This makes me want to cry. Today we drove through the mountains and it was blowing snow. The roads were a little icy but we got through safely. Tomorrow we are up very early and will be home late evening. We will stop in Sweetgrass at the duty free store and then that is the end of the great bus adventure. Actually, I will be glad to be home. I was starting to get home sick. I am not sure that I could take a bus trip that was much longer unless I took somebody from home with me. Maybe then it would be alright.
I am way way behind with my posts. Seriously...I am almost home. Sunday is nothing but a very pleasant memory for me. The bus went to Las Vegas so I opted to hang around the hotel. I walked along the Colorado river and then found a nice patio, sat in the sun and read my book. It was a gorgeous summer day. I petted ducks and fed other birds Cheetos. The day was not very eventful but I was glad to have one day where I really did nothing except enjoy the sun as much as I could.
Saturday was a few days ago, like five! Oh my goodness. Time does fly. I am a little afraid that I have already forgot what we did on Saturday other than drive. Maybe the photos and the itinerary will help jog my memory. Be back in a second. I am going to browse my pictures. Oh ya! Friday was a good day. I got to pet donkeys. Does it get any better than that? Oh, did I mention that I went to Taco Bell for lunch. Now Becky would think that was better than petting donkeys but I liked the donkeys better even though it was a Taco Bell with Palm Trees.
Taco Bell
vs. Donkeys
or more donkeys vs. ducks
Oppps, the ducks were Saturday. Donkeys Friday. Ducks Saturday. It is a good thing that all this fun got spread out a little. A person can only take so much excitement at one time. Anybody who knows me well, will tell you I am not being sarcastic but being entirely serious. I love donkeys and ducks. The greatest thing about the donkeys and ducks was that they came straight for you. Can you see the donkeys coming straight for me? I got so excited that I forgot to take more photos to show the whole sequence. The ducks all came straight for me too. All I did was unwrap a piece of gum and they all got up from their nap in the sun and came and gathered all around me. Eeeeeeee! I petted a duck too. O.K. Don't you all pass out with jealousy at once.
We took part of old Route 66 to get to Oatman. The road is in fairly rough shape but it was a pretty drive.
Desert plants.
Bank robbers
Mojave Desert on the way to Lake Havasu City
London Bridge (I somehow do not feel like I am in England)
Lake Havasu (It feels like summer)
Some shirtless dudes strutting the boardwalk. I was too chicken to take a picture of their fronts so I got a picture of their back sides. Hee hee. Didn't want them to think I was creepy. Hahahaha!
London Bridge connects to a little island which is populated with resorts and palm trees and sand.
After Havasu we went on to Quartzite Arizona. Along the way we saw where a lot of the snow birds land along the Colorado river. There were literally thousand upon thousands of Motor homes and fifth wheels parked in huge parking lots along the river for miles and miles. Although the weather is nice the way they were all crammed together did not appeal to me at all. When people have told me that they are taking their RV to Arizona for the winter, somehow that is not how I pictured it. The reality is not as nice as my imagination. Some people waved to the bus as we passed by.
At Quartzite we went to the market. I features 2,000 vendors. We had a half an hour because it was 4:30 and they close at 5:00. Very frustrating to be given only a half an hour! It seems that we tried to do too much in one day so all we did was ride the bus and were only let out for a little while at each stop. Note the huge cacti. I would have loved to get my picture with one but again, so much of what I saw was from the window of a bus. Frustrating. It would have been better off if we had not came to Quartzite so then we all would have not felt so let down. On a side note, I was in three states that day, Nevada, Arizona and California and in spite of the long drive I did have fun.
Hi guys. I am going to have to make this quick as it is late and I am at good old Starbucks using there internet services seeing as how the hotel wants to charge me $12.00 a day for the privilege and I am not about to pay them that for the 15 minutes a day that I will spend on the internet. In all fairness it is not theirt fault because the provider that they have is the one calling the shots and they are the ones making the contract with the customers and collecting from their Credit cards and they can do it seeing as how they are the only provider here. And we thought we had monopolies in Canada. Hrmph!
Today I spent another eight hours on the bus. It was four hours to the grand canyon and four hours back. It was worth it. I have seen many pictures of the canyon but nothing can prepare a person for the immensity of the sight. It was breath taking and awesome. I did an hour hike along the rim and then took the shuttle bus back to the visitor center. We went to the National Park instead of going to the North Rim as it was cheaper. I wanted to take a helicopter tour but they take off from Grand Canyon Village airport and not the park. Rats!
I had steak and Lobster for supper. Yum. Baileys and coffee for desert. I was going to go for a walk outside and get some night photos of the Palm trees all lite up and all the bright lights of the casinos here. It really is something. The wether is very nice and I can walk around outside with a sweater. I won six dollars in the cassino yesterday so for now I actually am six dollars ahead. I did lose fifteen but it was free money that I lost not my own.
Tomorrow we are going to Lake Havasu, Oatman and some huge flea market. The day after is a trip to Vegas that I plan to pass on and stay here. I am hoping to take a boat tour down the Colorado River and just get out and walk around Laughlin. It really is very nice here and I wish I could spend a few days just here.
O.K.....Here are some pictures. Sorry for this quickly slapped together blog post. I am tired and need to go to bed so I can goes up in the morning and just can't think very good right now. I am sure I am missing so many good stories and had so much I wanted to say. I should have kept a notebook with me and wrote things down during travel time and then I would only have to sit down and type it out and not think buy hey....you know how it is.
This is right by the Arizona border. It looks like we are getting the finger.
That obelisk is way far down in the canyon, way down.
A very basic canyon picture.
I took lots of pictures but don't have time to do more tonight and they are probably boring to anybody else but me. I feel bad cause I did get some interesting pictures yesterday and have now missed detailing a whole day of the trip. I will try to do it later if only for myself. I have got to go to beds now. I am dizzy, I am so tired. I am not going to edit either. I can come back and do that later. Good night.
I need to get myself some of that green grass. It never needs mowing or weeding or watering and it stays green all year long. Seriously, I have no idea why this has not caught on all over the place after all it must be able to take a lot of abuse cause football stadiums everywhere use it. If installed right it is hard to tell the difference. the only reason that I noticed it was because all the other grass was dead and brown and that made it really stick out.
View from my room. Bleak.
Another angle. Bleak.
And yet another bleak angle.
Only 1,600 people live here in West Wendover. The homes that are here look pretty bleak and poor. I think that this would have to be one of the most depressing places on the planet to have to live. Other than the casinos there really is not much of anything else except dirt. I am glad to be leaving tomorrow.
I did have fun today. Instead of gambling I spend money at the spa. After a deep muscle massage I went for the Moor Mud Pack. After getting you all good and muddy they put you into a hydrotherapy capsule and steam you up and at the same time you get a facial. It was heaven. It felt like I was floating on a cloud. My money was much better spent there.
I spotted this statue up on the hill, got the camera and quick got a shot as we were driving into Butte Montana. It turns out that it is a huge statue of the Virgin Mary. Good eyes aay?
Lat afternoon I woke up after a short nap, somehow missing Salt Lake City and we were driving through this. The strip of dry ground you see is the other half of the divided highway. The road that we were on was likewise surrounded by water and out the other window of the bus it looked like a huge lake. I am thinking that the water levels must stay consistent because it would not take much of a raise in levels to flood the highway.
I took two photos. I don't know which is worse. The bad reflections in the window or the disembodied or floating camera. You decide. The sun was blaring through the bus all day cooking all of us in the front and giving me a big headache.
Evening and getting close to Windover. It was almost foggy. We have finally left the snow behind except for on top of the hills. It is hard for me to call them mountains.
Sunset on the desert.
My swanky room. I am at Montego Hotel. La La land. I am in a non smoking room but in the middle of the night I woke up and it stank in here like somebody was right in the room smoking. Maybe it is haunted.
I have to go now and find a good cup of Java because the stuff that I made this morning in the little coffee maker is really really bad. I am going to complain at the desk. The machine had been overflowed and then that coffee sat in it and I think somehow that flavor of icky old coffee got into the maker somehow and thus got into my coffee. Icky Ick!!! Gack!
Along the way. Photos re posted from facebook as promised.
Turner Montana The Bar And Grill...where we had lunch...note the Ma and Pa facilities out back. Thankfully they did have other options for us although the men's room did not lock and there was a urinal in the ladies room, a very low urinal that maybe you would find in an elementary school. Very weird or what?
Still Christmas in Turner but maybe it was just too durned cold. It was colder here than it was in Saskatoon so it was freakin cold. Ummm...I really can't say much as the snowman and candy canes are still out front of my house and the tree is still up in the basement. Yup.
We went through some mountains. The scenery was very pretty. Somehow I was expecting boring.
I am so sick of winter so I said to myself that it was ridiculous to sit about and whine and not do anything about it. Now, I am sure that I can't get God to change the weather here so there is only one sane option and I don't for the life of me know why I had not seriously thought about going somewhere reasonably warm for a little while. Well...that is just a little untrue,truth be told. Seriously, I have to stop lying to myself. The only reason that I have not packed up my capris and headed south is that I am cheap. It comes from years and years of budgeting and raising four children and trying to make sure that they were fed and watered and educated and all that. I have no reason to be cheap anymore. The other reason was the obvious one of not having anybody to go with. Today the opportunity came up and after a ten second lecture to myself of dismissing any reason that I had not to go I went and bought my ticket. So....I am heading south on a ten day bus tour of Nevada. Hee hee! I can just feel that sun on my face. I know that it is not going to be as warm as if I had gone to Jamaica or something but to this Canadian it will feel heavenly and it is going to be a hoot. I will be going with good company. The lady that I am tagging along with lost her husband to Multiple Myeloma too. I am excited.
Fly away little snow bird..fly away....just far enough to be warm.
I am sorry guys I was unable to take any photos of this trip because as usual I forgot my camera. I wish I did have some picture to show you because even though it lasted for one night it was very interesting and I had many unbelievable adventures.
It was an adventure from the very beginning. My mom of very advanced years decided that she should tag along and had bought herself a ticket and was there in her wheelchair waiting for me at the airport with a small bag in hand. All she had packed were a couple of changes of underwear and some Scope mouthwash. When I mentioned the fact that she really was not prepared very well for the trip and perhaps should stay home she smiled one of her wicked "you don't know anything" smiles and told me that we would shop. I was very alarmed at this because I did have a very full itinerary planned and shopping was not on the list. At this time I could not tell you for the life of me what that important itinerary was but I knew that I had a purpose for my visit to Mexico and I sure did not want her messing with it.
Upon reaching my destination somehow I got separated from Mom and I found myself out on the mean streets alone in an area where I felt very uncomfortable and afraid. I knew that I was being followed so I ducked into a hotel and bolted for the very first room that was not locked hoping to hide out and with a bit of luck lose those that were in pursuit of me. Did I fail to mention that this room was already being occupied by somebody else? It was John that brought this to my attention when he told me that maybe we should find another hiding place. Always in my darkest and most frightening moments John was by my side so it was no surprise to me to find him there if only until I could find my way out of the woods so to speak. He told me to hide under the bed. I tried. I did not fit. We decided to hide behind the bed and keep silent and wait. It worked thank goodness. I decided to leave there and backtrack a bit. I figured that I did not have much time before they came back and checked out where I was a the moment. Back on the street I noticed a hilled area. It was housed with very expensive homes. I decided that maybe I could find some help there, phone a cab or something. I headed to the first mansion. The whole yard was not grassed but paved with golden marble. I sat down to think and felt the warmth flow through me. Soon a gentleman came along and sat down beside me. It was the owner of the property. I explained to him my dilemma and he told me to feel free to sit safely on his property as long as I felt the need to do so. Did I mention that a small stream ran along side of his property and that going up the stream and down the stream was a steady stream of sad, poverty stricken and homeless people? A more pitiful bunch I have never seen. I mentioned them to him. He told me that he had never noticed them before I had pointed them out. At this he left and told me to have a nice day. I guess he went back to his happy but oblivious life.
My next stop on this eventful night was a visit to one of Mexico's aboriginal people groups. They resided in a forested area that was very lush and green and isolated in huts that were woven with twigs. It is a very ingenious construction or at least that is what I thought at the time. As I was seated on the ground on a blanket I was pondering what in the world I was going to do with all the guns that I had spread out before me and that were given to me by the friendly, hospitable and generous hosts that I did not want to offend by not accepting their gift. I guess that after hearing of how I had been chased about upon my arrival to their fair country they decided that weaponry was the way to go in gifting me. At this time my good missionary friend Pastor Paul happened along. I asked him what to do with the guns. He told me not to worry he knew a good cheap way to get them back to Canada for me. I told him I did not want to get them back to Canada. He gave me a look that said "you must be addled in the brain" and then firmly told me that he would get them cheaply home for me so that was that about the guns. I figured that when I got home I could simply hand them over to the firearm regulators. Yup. That made the most sense.
Next on the itinerary was a myriad of speaking engagements. Upon hearing about what was being expected of me I was indeed extremely alarmed. I had not prepared for this. I told my guide that it was like my mom taking a vacation armed with only clean underwear and Scope except I did not even have that and not only that, there was no time to shop either as I was expected to go on stage at that very moment. I told him that I would much rather go back to being chased about by unknown assailants. He told me to never mind and that all I had to do was to go up and tell the people about my life in Canada. They simply wanted to hear a very ordinary, mundane and rather boring Canadian speak and they thought that I filled this description very well. I had to agree as I could not think up any argument against his description of me on the spot. It pretty well describes me to a Tee. What could I say. Speak I did.
After the speaking was all said and done I enquired of my guide if he knew anything about how my mom was doing. Up to this time she had completely escaped my thoughts. He told me that she was doing well. She had to stay in her hotel as she had no clean cloths to go out in and had to wash her stuff out in the sink and sit naked until they dried. She had grown tired of that so she had decided that it was time to give it up and go home.
After all the speaking I was escorted to help at a new project in the heart of Mexico City. My missionary friends in that city had acquired an old castle that they were converting into a housing project for the homeless. It was a beautiful old stone building probably about five stories tall. It had turrets and gabled windows. All it really needed was a good cleaning. I was handed a mop and bucket. I set it down and asked if I could go exploring a little and meet the rest of the group assembled there who were helping with the project. In the first room that I poked my head into was one of our old pastors wife Glenda. She was busy cleaning windows. This was no easy chore as the windows were very high. She was precariously perched high up on one of the sills busily punching the screen out as it was literally clogged with dirt and grime. Down to the ground it went with a thud. She continued on to the next window, up the ladder, over to the sill, balance there and punch out the next screen five stories off the ground. How do you spell crazy? C-R-A-Z-Y. Yup, that is how! As I did not want to be the one who watched her fall to her death I decided to leave that room and do some more exploring this fantastic place. Pftt...I had no problem leaving the cleaning to others. Out in the hall something scurried by my feet. I followed the patter of its little feet into the room it went into. I was pulled up short. It was like a scene from the movie...ahhh.....what was the name of that movie? You know the one that Micheal Jackson sang the title song for? The one with all the rats? Anyway, the room was full of rats, There were blond rats, red furred rats, brunettes, long haired rats, sleek grey rats, old rats and bald baby rats. Ohhh! I got it!!! Ben! That was the name of the movie and the song.
Now before you go all sentimental on me and envision that we all decided to leave the home in order that it now become a home for destitute rats with a rat called Ben as its leader and everything was happy ever after and all that jazz, get a grip on reality. Sad to say to you that it did not end happy for the rats at all. After a group meeting it was unanimously decided that in order for the castle not to end up looking like the last episode of Hoarders I watched where the gentleman in that show decided to hoard bunnies and they had all ran a muck and bore holes through the wall and left the floor covered in six inches of feces, we decided to exterminate the rats. My daughter's brother-in-law Neil was the head exterminator and he murdered more rats than anybody else. In the end there was a mountain of dead rats and after letting them set for a bit until we were sure there was no more rat movement we placed them into coffins of empty soda bottles. The little rats went into the six ounce bottles and the big rats went into the litre containers. We stuffed that mess into big black garbage bags and set them out for the garbage collectors.
If things good and bad things happen in threes does this apply to wacky things as well?
Weird thing #1: Seeing robed person in photo of grave. Ignore the fact that it was debunked and turned out to be Angela squatting with the camera to get her shot. Her pose perfectly reflected to show a robed figure. I am sure that we could not reproduce that if we worked at it all day. It is like when a person sees Jesus in their grilled cheese sandwich. Everything has to line up just so....
Weird thing #2: Seeing unidentified objects in the night sky. I did not see this. Mike did. He woke me up after the fact even though he watched it for over three minutes. There was a bright light that kept blinking on and off. It did not have a steady rhythm but blinked rather randomly. Sometimes rapidly, sometimes it would pause and then start again. He could not see a source from the ground. The thing that disturbed him the most is that whenever it would start to blink he got interference on his cell phone.
Weird thing #3: I wonder what that will be? Talking animals? Snake coming out of the toilet? An episode of some item spontaneously combusting? More items from my home mysteriously disappearing?
Mateepr says hi. He wants you to know that he is miffed at how he is being ignored. None of his ideas are getting used. He said that if he is not treated better soon he may run away from home. He thinks that Ben, Sam or Noah would be glad to take him in.
He says that he would have it much better there. They don't have dogs so he won't have to smell their gas anymore or live in fear of getting chewed up and spat out or getting chewed up and having to go through Frankie's digestive tract or worse yet, getting chewed up and ate by Roscoe and ran through his digestive tract then picked up by Frankie after being expelled by Roscoe and then ran again through another set of intestines.
Today Angela and I observed remembrance Day. Not only did we remember those who gave so much to our country in war but we most of all remembered you, the one who gave us so much in life. As well as that, we remembered the trenches. We were there with you in that horrible war that took you away from us. All of us who loved you so much each have memories of that battle that we fought right along side of you. Each of us have scars and wounds that we will have for the rest of our days, yet here we are, we live on but we will never forget.
You can see our reflections as if they have been etched into the stone as if we had become a part of the epitaph. In truth we are. We were such a part of who you were just as you were such a part of who we are. In this way you will always be remembered. You will always be a part of who were are. Time itself can not erase this. You will always be remembered by us and when we are gone and time has removed all of us who remember you, we will be with you.
O God, Our Help In Ages Past Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home.
Before the hills in order stood or earth received her frame, from everlasting thou art God, to endless years the same.
A thousand ages in Thy sight are like an evening gone, short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun.
Time like an ever rolling stream bears all its sons away, they fly forgotten as a dream dies at the op'ning day.
O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, be Thou our guard while troubles last and our eternal home.
They say that bad things happen in threes. Maybe good things happen in threes too but I have never paid attention to that. The negative seems to get and hold our attention more than the good things. Bad thing #1: the element in the oven burnt out. Bad thing #2: My central vacuum decided to quit working today. I already have it at the vacuum hospital and the vacuum doctor phoned but I was still out running errands one of which was to get a new element for the oven. It is fixed. The Swanson Pot Pies are cooking away right now. Yup, I knocked myself out with that meal. I call it widow food. Widow food is anything quick and easy and that you can cook in the right amount so that their are no leftovers. Toast qualifies and is a major staple. I came up with a new yummy idea at the grocery store. I have been having problems motivating myself to eat fruit. I bring it home and forget it is there and it goes to rot. I just threw out five pears that I had forgot were living in my fridge. Today I bought one of those lovely fruit platters that you usually get if you are entertaining, the kind with the delusions dip. Oh, yum. I am eating that as I wait for the pot pies to cook. Hmmm...I have somehow got off topic. I went from bad things to fruit. Back to the bad things. I wonder what is going to break next. I hope it is not any badder than #1 and #2. yum...that is good cheese... Jalapeño Havarti...and some olives and Stone Wheat Thins. I have moved on from the fruit. This is what happens people when you munch and blog at the same time.
Don't stand in one place too long in the slushy icy mess early in the morning or you may freeze in place. If it happened to me, it could happen to you.
Yay!
If you use Charmin toilet paper, you can enjoy going more often so if you have been holding your bladder trying to save some pennies, you don't have to anymore. Who would have thunk it?
Wow!
If you use Bounce Dryer Bar you can save valuable time. You will not know what to do with the spare 30 seconds that you gained by not using dryer sheets! Think about it. If you do two loads of laundry a day you will save a whole minute. Seven whole minutes a week! Add that up for a whole year! Wow! I would think there would be a stampede to get Charmin and Dryer bars. With all the time you save you will have more time to enjoy peeing. I know, that is what we all want.
Oh please don't stop, Your blog is the top(s). I like to come here, and while I drink beer, I read and I laugh, at all of your gaffe(s).
Through all of November, if you can remember, to post once a day, anything you might say, to me on the phone. Just throw me a bone.
I'll (and I think I speak for all of your loyal readers) take whatever you wanna throw out there Mom. I (we) don't expect Pulitzer prize winning literature. I love your blog. And on days when you really have nothing, I'll be happy to give you an idea, or if you're really desperate, I'll write you a whole post. I've done it before. I'll do it again.
Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise. That may be good for a man but all it does for me is make me want to crash around 4:00 p.m.
The early bird gets the worm. I say fine. Let them have it. Who in their right mind wants to go digging for worms when the sun comes up anyway. Who in their right mind wants to dig for worms at all. What in the world would I do with them even if I were so inclined?What do the worm diggers do in the winter when the ground is frozen solid and is like a piece of concrete?
Not making much sense? I was up too early. I do not feel healthy. I do not feel wise. I feel stupider as they day drags on. I am going to go and have a nap now.
